Past
by AlmontRaidersForever
Summary: JONAS! He didn't think he would see her after her walking away 2 years ago but no. Here she is standing in front of him. His ex-girlfriend. The one girl he ever loved...still loves. Stella and Macy's best friend from summer camp. He is so dead. Joe/OC. ON HIATUS TILL FURTHER NOTICE!


If there's one thing that the students of Horace Mantis think they know is true it's that Joe Lucas and Stella Malone like each other…

And it couldn't be further from the truth.

They do not like each other like that. No, they do not. They're practically related. Stella has her sights on the football captain, Daren Michaels. While Joe's heart has already been taken by someone; someone he hasn't seen in two years. He's tried to move on from her but he can't. The past won't let him. His _heart_ won't let him. No matter how hard he tries.

The past is the past. That's what he'll say and that's where Joe wants the memories of this day two years ago to stay but no. Just like the year before the memories of that day and the days…weeks…months before reared their ugly head and wouldn't go away, refuse to go away, until he went to sleep that night and it starts the same way. The day starts with him dreaming of the first time they met two and half years ago…

_Nick, Kevin and Joe stand outside of a tall and rather intimidating building in New York City. Their father, Tom Lucas, ushers them in quickly._

"_Come boys we don't want to be late for our meeting with the director." He tells to his sons. They just nod absently while looking around them._

_While walking to the elevator something catches Joe's eye. A poster of the director he and his brothers are going to see._

**Edward Ricci**

**He's a family man first and a director second but he'll get the job down and it will be perfect. Studying film at UCLA he met his wife Maria, who was studying law, in their freshman year. They married after graduation and moved to Massachusetts so Maria could study at Harvard Law. Six months later Edward got his first gig directing a straight to VHS film **_**Don't Let Love Walk Away**_**. Only a year after that Edward signed on his first big picture. Four years later his daughter Leonora Anne Ricci was born.**

**Edward started his own directing company, Ricci's in 2004.**

**He lives in Manhattan with his wife and daughter.**

**(Pictures below)**

"_JOE! Let's go!" his dad calls for him before he could look at the pictures. He quickly walks to the elevator muttering a quick 'sorry' to his dad._

"_Alright, this has to go well. I don't …" Joe tunes out his father as he tells them the same speech from every interview and music they ever did._

_The elevator door opening brings Joe back from his thoughts. He, his brothers and his father are met with tall blonde woman in crisp business suit._

"_Follow me please." She says sweetly. She leads them to the back of the room to a glass door. _**EDWARD RICCI**_ is painted on the front. The woman knocks on it quickly._

"_Not now Sara." Edward tells to his secretary, his voice muffled through the door. Joe hears another voice through the door._

"_Yeah. Not now Sara." The voice mocks. He snorts quietly to himself as the voice is scolded by Edward._

"_Sir. JONAS is here for your meeting." The secretary, Sara, states._

"_Oh. Right. Send them in." Sara smiles at the Lucas family before opening the door for them._

"_Thank you." Tom says politely to the woman as his sons enter before him. Joe looks around the room. Posters of movies and pictures of a family are mixed together on all of the walls. Whispers catch his attention and looking behind him is a man, obviously Edward Ricci, is talking to a young girl, her back to him._

_He watches the girl huff and could tell that she crosses her arms as Ricci rolls his eyes and smiles before he stands up from his chair._

"_Edward Ricci but you all me Eddie. Everyone does." He greets shaking Tom's hand. The girl's voice cut in._

"_Or you can just call him insanely annoying. I do." Edward…Eddie sighs glancing over his shoulder at the girl._

"_My daughter Leonora. Ignore her. I'm getting a muzzle fitted for her soon and then hopefully some peace and quiet." he tells them seriously. Nick, Kevin and Joe stare at the man, shocked that he would actually say that about his daughter._

"_Like you could get it on me if you actually bought. Need I remind you daddy dearest I can run a lot faster than you." Leonora says sweetly as she walks from behind her father and pats his stomach. Leonora looks at the expressions on the guests face then shoots her father a look._

"_Look what you did. You completely freaked them out. He's just kidding about the muzzle. I swear." She says directing the last statement to the Lucas'. Joe's eyes shift to her and as cliché as it sounds he forgets how breathe._

_Leonora Ricci is a very attractive sixteen-year-old girl. She has long chocolate brown hair with blue and purple streaks that's up in pigtails, hazel eyes that are behind a pair of narrow glasses and sparkling mischievously and a bright smile._

_He glances down at her clothes and blinks at the asortment of bright colors. She has neon orange skinny jeans with a dark blue tank top and another one that's bright yellow. A rainbow studded belt and a pair of lime green converses. Ridiculous amount colors that would be hidious on anyone else but they seem to work for her._

"_I'm going to go torment Sara." Leonora's voice snaps Joe out of his study of her._

"_Leonora Anna." Her father says sternly. Leonora rolls her eyes before raising her hands up in surrender._

"_Kidding. I'm going to Shakes Café to study for my Pre-Cal test. Have fun doing…whatever it is you do." She tells her father as she grabs her messenger bag from beside the couch. Slinging it over her shoulder she walks over to her father and kisses him on the cheek before walking to the door._

"_Caio papa." She calls over her shoulder. Joe's eyes follow her until she disappears from his sight…_

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

_Later that day he's sitting in the limo with his brothers and dad driving to Edward Ricci's house for a dinner party. He's fidgeting in his seat and can't sit still. His hands are getting sweaty and stomach fills with butterflies at the thought of seeing Leonora again._

_He's refusing to believe that he's a nervous wreck because Joe Lucas doesn't get nervous over girls. They get nervous over him and besides he just met the girl._

I'm not nervous_ he tells himself as they pull to the gate of the house._

_The gate opens and the limo moves forward and suddenly it's a little harder to breathe. He takes a few deep breaths to calm himself as he glances at his brothers. Nick's occupying himself by writing a new song and Kevin's on his phone texting someone._ Probably Macy._ He tells himself as he quickly thinks of their best friends back in New Jersey. He looks out his window when the limo pulls to stop in front of the main doors._

_His door opens and he gets out taking deep breaths while telling himself that he's not nervous. The limo drives away as he, his brothers and father start walking toward house. His breath becomes shallow again and he vaguely wonders how his brothers or his dad haven't noticed yet._

_The main door open when they reach them and there stands Edward Ricci and his wife._

"_Ah. Just the brothers I was talking about. Maria these are the Lucas brothers. Kevin, Joe and Nick. Boys meet my wife Maria." Eddie introduces them before they're swept into the party._

_Joe's eyes travel to the window on their very own and he spots Leonora talking to a guy around his age. He can't take his eyes off her as he walks to the refreshments table with his brothers. After grabbing a glass of something he thinks is sparkling water he leaves his brothers and walks over to Leonora._

_He's a few feet away when he hears her laugh and he thinks it's the most beautiful thing he's ever heard._

_Before he makes it to her someone taps him on the shoulder and brings him in a conversation away from Leonora._

_An hour after he arrived, he's listening to his dad, Eddie, the producer and some other people from the movie when he spots Leonora again. She's at window still but this time she's alone._

_Excusing himself from the conversation he walks over to Leonora. As he gets closers his palms start to sweat again and once again it's a little harder to breathe. He takes a deep breath and wiping his palms on his pants as he steps behind her._

"_You know I didn't peg you to be the wallflower type." He tells her. She whips around and he watches her hair fall over her shoulder and her black dress fan out a little before stopping an inch or two above her knees._

"_Yeah well...looks can be deceiving." She says bluntly and for some reason he's not taken back by her tone as he usually would be if it were any other girl but instead he smiles slightly._

"_We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Joe Lucas." He says sticking his hand out. She stares at it for a fraction of a moment before slipping her hand in his gently. Sparks shoot up his arm and through his body the moment her soft skin touches his._

"_Leonora Ricci." She tells him with a small smile and just like that with that small and simple gesture he knows instantly that he's hooked..._

Joe quickly sat up from his dream, his breathe heavy and labored. He looked at the clock to see that it was 6:30 AM. He got out of bed and walked to the bathroom. Making sure the door is locked he ran his hand through his hair and leaned against the sink for couple of minutes before turning the shower on trying to rid himself of the dream even though he knows it's useless.

Thirty minutes later he slid down the pole—freshly showered and dressed in his uniform—into the kitchen for some breakfast. In the corner of his eye he sees Kevin and Nick (Frankie's eating his cereal, oblivious to the sudden tension in the room) looking at him as he walked to the counter to grabbed a bagel.

After placing it in the toaster he walked to the fridge and grabbed the orange juice. Turning around he grabbed an empty glass that was on the counter and poured him a glass, blatantly ignoring the looks his three brothers are sending him.

He stared at the glass filled with sweet orange citrus liquid, remembering that _she_ always took a sip of his juice in the morning.

He hasn't tasted a glass of orange juice in two years.

The toaster dinged and he turned around to butter his bagel. He missed to look Frankie sent his older brothers and the glance exchanged between Nick and Kevin.

Taking a bite of his bagel he just stared straight ahead through the window not taking anything in. Nick cleared his throat as Joe took another bite of his bagel. Frankie got off his chair nosily and left the firehouse for school, the door slamming shut behind him. Joe doesn't move an inch.

He hears Nick sigh then mumble something to Kevin but he can still hear.

"He's moving on auto-pilot." He can picture Kevin nodding his agreement.

"Just like last year." Joe paused after that statement before shaking it off and polished off the bagel. He grabbed a napkin and whipped his fingers before tossing it in the garbage.

He walked over to the couch to grab his book bag. Slinging it over his shoulder he looked at his brothers.

"Ready to go?" he asked, even he can tell his voice is voided of anything. It will be all day.

Just like last year.

"Yeah man. So, I heard there's a new girl starting today." He heard Nick tell them as he walked back to counter where the glass of orange juice is.

The door closed behind the two and then it's just him in the firehouse. The silence is deafening and he both welcomes and wishes it gone.

He grabbed the glass of juice and lifts it to his lips. The sweet tart smell fills his nose and he remembers…

_Joe is sitting in a small diner a couple blocks away from where he's shooting a movie with his brothers. He's drinking a glass of orange juice as he waits for Leonora to show up._

_He's tapping a rhythm on the tabletop with his fingers as he reaches for his glass with the other hand. It's a couple of inches away from his lips when it's taken from him. He sighs already knowing who took it. The person sits in front of him._

"_Morning to you too Nora." He greets using his special nickname for her. She smiles at him from behind the glass and he notices that her long hair is pulled over her shoulder by a loose ponytail and that she's not wearing her glasses._

"_Where are your glasses?" he asks as she takes a drink of the juice. She sets it front of him and he watches as her tongue sweeps across her lips._

"_My tennis tournament is today." She tells him. He mentally slaps himself for not remembering. He promised her he would stop by when he could._

"_You forgot." It's more of a statement than a question because she already knows the answer. She pretends to look upset as he smiles sheepishly at her. She just rolls her eyes a moment later._

_The waitress comes by the table and drops off a glass of orange juice. Just like every day for the past month._

_Leonora ignores it and steals his again and takes a drink. Joe looks at her with an exasperated expression on his face and she laughs. His heartbeat quickens at the sound._

"_Why do you always take my juice when you have your own?" he asks curious on the reason she does it. She set the glass back down to the side of him._

"_You mean you never heard?" she asks in mock astonishment. He chuckles. She leans closer and motions him to do the same._

_Her lips are near his ear and he tries to hold in a shiver at the feel of her breathe on his skin._

"_Everything tastes better when it's stolen." She whispers her lips just barely touching his ear. She leans back suddenly and he looks at her. He faintly sees pink on her cheeks and holds back a smile. Joe leans back slower than she did and pretends to look thoughtful at her answer._

"_Really? I never heard of that." He says and she playfully gasps._

"_How can that be? Everyone's heard of that. My word where have you been all these years Joe Lucas?" she asks as she looks out the window of the diner. She glances at him from the corner of her eye and sees him smiling softly at her. She feels her heart skip a couple beats._

"_New Jersey. Thanks for asking." He quips and she snorts before looking at the clock hanging on the wall by the kitchen. It's time for them to leave; her for school, him for filming. He throws a couple of bills on the table and they get up. She takes a drink of orange juice again before following him out._

_They walk down the sidewalk for a minute before he does something impulsive._

_He stops her and she looks up at him._

"_Wha—" he cuts her off by placing his lips on hers. She's still for a moment and he wonders if she's going to kill him for this when she responds gently._

_They caress each other's lips for a couple of moments longer before pulling back. She's smiling softly at him and he returns it._

"_You're right. It does taste better when it's stolen." He says as he slips his arm over her shoulder and pulling her tight to his side._

_She laughs as they start walking again and he notices that she tastes like orange juice…_

He pulled the glass away almost violently before he's actually tempted to taste it when he comes back to his thoughts. Shaking his head he quickly dumped the juice in the sink and rushes out to catch up to his brothers.

The untouched yellowish-orange liquid swirls down the drain and into the sewer.

Just like last year.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Joe went straight to his locker not noticing that Stella and Macy are looking at the new girl in disbelief.

He opened his locker to place his books from last night in there and grabbed the ones he needed for first period. He jumped at the scream both Stella and Macy give.

"LEO!"

"MASS! ELLA!"

He freezes at the voice and looked up to see if this is another memory. He _desperately _hopes it is.

He's wrong.

His breathe hitched much like the first time he saw her. Her hair is shorter just below her shoulders and she added a color. Red. Crimson red—_his_ favorite color. Her hair still has its wild waves and curls that he loved to run his hands threw whenever they were together; just the two of them. She gave her own style to the uniforms much like what Stella does. Just with brighter colors. She's got a bright neon green t-shirt under the maroon sweater vest, the skirt is hanging just above her knee…taunting him…teasing him, she's got knee length tube socks and orange converses on, her tie loosely hanging from her neck.

He now registered the fact that Stella and Macy are hugging her like…they're old friends.

"What are you doing here?"

"I didn't know you two went here."

"I can't believe your actually here." They said in unison. He slammed his locker shut unitentionally breaking up the little reunion. Stella drags her over to his brothers and him. He held his breath as she's standing in front of him. She looked as shock to see him, as he is her.

"Oh! How rude of us. Guys meet our best friend from summer camp. Leonora Ricci. Leo meet our best friends Kevin, Nick and—" Leonora interrupts Macy.

"Joey." She whispered sending shivers down his back as he stares her in the eye.

"Nora."

The hall was deathly silent after that for a couple of minutes. Suddenly Leonora walked up to Joe, standing close to him that he can feel her body heat radiating from her... just tempting him to pull her close to his body. She looked him in the eye searching for something. He doesn't know if she found it or not before…

_**SMACK!**_

Joe raised a hand to his stinging cheek as he looked up at Leonora in shock. He didn't expect her to slap him. Stella, Macy, his brothers and everyone in the hallway just stared at the two of them.

"I can't believe I'm seeing you after two years." She said softly hatred lacing through her voice, the words just for his ears only. He swallowed thickly at the emotion spreading through him.

He looked away from her as the tears start forming in his eyes.

She turned away from him as the tears start falling from her eyes.

"I hate you." She whispered threw her tears before walking away.

_The past is coming back to haunt me._ Joe thought as he stared at Leonora's retreating back.

If there's one thing the students of Horace Mantis don't know was that Joe Lucas is still in love with Leonora Ricci…

And that's the honest truth.


End file.
